Ah, the perils of hosting an international jamboree. You know what it’s like: you stump up for the hotel rooms, roll out the red carpet, shake hands with an assortment of autocrats, only for your own unappreciative electorate to let you down once again. Such misfortune befell Emmanuel Macron this week, when he invited the leaders of the Global South to Paris to hobnob, ching-wag and pontificate on debt relief and climate change.
The Republic’s young sons and daughters expressed their dislike of the incumbent President at a concert on Thursday night, held to mark the grandly-named ‘Summit for a New Global Financial Pact’. Between performances from Billie Eilish and Lenny Kravitz, two less telegenic stars took to the stage to hail their host: Ajay Banga, the President of the World Bank, and Mia Mottley, the Prime Minister of Barbados. But when Mottley tried to say a few bland words of praise about President Macron, she was met with a deafening chorus of ‘Macron resignation!’ causing her to stumble mid-speech:
We come to Paris thanks to President Macron for this global financing… my friends, my friends, trust me… I want you to know that the one person in the G7 who has stood up for the planet has been President Macron… so whether we like it or not, that’s our reality.
Britain’s best politics newsletters
You get two free articles each week when you sign up to The Spectator’s emails.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in